These lawmakers are phoning it in.
Several New York state Assembly members cast hundreds of votes via video this legislative session even as COVID-19 concerns waned and the federal emergency expired in May.
Among the chamber’s worst offenders was Assemblywoman Latrice Walker (D-Brooklyn), a staunch defender — and a main author — of the controversial 2019 bail reform law.
From January to June, Walker participated in 172 of the Assembly’s 1,001-floor votes remotely, some of which overlapped with her three-week hunger strike protesting rollbacks to the bail laws during the budget negotiation process.
Walker told The Post that she voted remotely this session while caring for her mother who is facing serious health issues, requiring ER visits and stays in rehabilitation care facilities.
“I am thankful that the Assembly rules allow me to vote remotely when necessary,” Walker said. “To the people who were already aware, I thank you for your continued support and prayers.”
At the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, lawmakers in both of the state’s legislative chambers adopted resolutions permitting elected officials to cast their votes remotely during a declared national or state emergency.
Three years later, both chambers passed new rules this March, allowing Albany pols to attend sessions via videoconference “in extraordinary circumstances or any other significant or unexpected factor or event.”
New York lawmakers are the top paid in the nation after they passed their own raise in December to a base salary of $142,000.
In the Assembly, where Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Minority Leader William Barclay (R-Pulaski) have to green-light their colleagues’ work-from-home requests, some pols vote an extraordinary number of times over the television screen, far away from their fellow lawmakers and the public.
Assemblyman David McDonough (R-Merrick), 86, cast a staggering 737 votes from the comforts of his Long Island home — including for two bills where he was a main sponsor — due to “personal challenges” and difficulties he faced traveling upstate.
“Despite some limitations, I appreciate the ability to participate in session, pass bills and cast votes on behalf of my district,” McDonough, who has served in Legislature for 21 years, told The Post.
The extensive absence echoes that of another elderly lawmaker, 90-year-old US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who was entirely MIA from Congress for more than two months due to a bout with shingles and whose mental fitness has been questioned — prompting some House Democrats to call for her resignation.
Assemblywoman Inez Dickens (D-Manhattan), 73, also voted remotely, a total of 158 times, although her staff did not explain the reasoning for her physical absence from Albany.
“Remote voting is allowed in the state legislature, so she voted virtually roughly 15% of the time,” said Dickens’ chief of staff Lermond Mayes. “We should be grateful for her service instead of questioning her attendance record.”
Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo (R-Sayville), 33, participated in 326 votes while outside of Albany, which he attributed to helping his wife with pregnancy difficulties and being in the hospital for their son’s delivery during the June legislative marathons.
“We were doing hundreds of votes per day, that’s how I ended up there,” he said.
Assemblywoman Nikki Lucas (D-Brooklyn), 53, who cast 241 votes remotely, did so due to complications from foot surgery in January and having to aid her father in a long-term care facility, according to her spokesman Vernon Jones.
Rachael Fauss, senior policy advisor at the good government watchdog Reinvent Albany, said that while it’s good to give legislators flexibility on their ability to vote in case of illnesses or emergencies, “you don’t want the rules to be abused where members don’t show up to do their job in Albany.”
“Decisions happen in Albany, and when members aren’t present,” she added. “It’s right for their constituents to ask what their legislator is missing and how well they can advocate for their constituents.”
